66 
RING-TAIL EAGLE. 
upper parts dark blackish brown; wings black; tail rounded, 
long, of a white or pale cream colour, minutely sprinkled with 
specks of ash and dusky, and ending in a broad band of deep 
dark brown, of nearly one- third its length; chin, cheeks and 
throat, black; whole lower parts a deep dark brown, except the 
vent and inside of the thighs, which are white, stained with 
brown; legs thickly covered to the feet with brownish white 
down or feathers; claws black, very large, sharp and formida- 
ble, the hind one full two inches long. 
The Ring-tail Eagle is found in Russia, Switzerland, Ger- 
many, France, Scotland, and the northern parts of America. 
As Marco Polo, in his description of the customs of the Tar- 
tars, seems to allude to this species, it may be said to inhabit 
the whole circuit of the arctic regions of the globe. The Golden 
Eagle, on the contrary, is said to be found only in the more 
warm and temperate countries of the ancient continent.* Later 
discoveries, however, have ascertained it to be also an inhabi- 
tant of the United States, t 
♦Bbffon, vol. i, p. 56, Trans. 
t Naturalists beings now of opinion that the Ring-tailed Eagle and the Golden 
Eagle are the same, we add the following synonymes: — Yelloio-headed Eagle, 
-Arct- Zool. JYo. 86. D. — Golden Eagle, Lath. Syn. 1, 31, JYo. 5. — PL Enl. 410. 
— Falco fulvits, Ind. Orn. i, Ab. 4; F. chrysaelos. Id. JYo. 8; F. melanonolus. Id. 
Ab. 26; F. melanoielus. Id. Ao. 3. — dligle royal, Temm. Man. d'Orn. i, p. 38. 
